Israeli PM Netanyahu's Performative Genocide in Gaza
My friend wrote this.
I can assure you that he freely shares this article ,
and would want you to share it freely with others
AND keep in mind this was written BEFORE All the additional war crimes
were committed by Israel forces since November 2023.
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https://www.juancole.com/2023/11/netanyahus-performative-genocide.html
Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Performative Genocide in Gaza
MARK KARLIN
11/06/2023
(Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to destroy Hamas, whatever the cost to civilians in Gaza, is based on a brutally cynical reality that such a goal will not be achievable without completely decimating Gaza or forcing the Gazans into exile in Egypt (either of which many of his political partners endorse, calling all Gazans “beasts” or “sub-human.”)
Recently, Netanyahu referred to a biblical old testament passage that called for the killing of every Amalekite, as he sought to justify the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza. As reported on November 3rd in Mother Jones,
There are more than 23,000 verses in the Old Testament. The ones Netanyahu turned to, as Israeli forces launched their ground invasion in Gaza, are among its most violent—and have a long history of being used by Jews on the far right to justify killing Palestinians.
As others quickly pointed out, God commands King Saul in the first Book of Samuel to kill every person in Amalek, a rival nation to ancient Israel. “This is what the Lord Almighty says,” the prophet Samuel tells Saul. “‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
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The message was clear that he was equating all Gazans with the fate of the Amalekites.
In its previous incursions into the Gaza strip, Israel had only “nicked” Hamas while leaving the 30,000 man militia (according to Israel) intact. The IDF and Israeli air force were only able to destroy a limited number of tunnels in past invasions.
Approximately 4,000 children have been killed by Israeli bombing (with many more likely buried under the rubble). Given occasional (but unverified) Israeli IDF announcements of Hamas commanders “eliminated,” it is possible to estimate that 400-500 children die for each commander allegedly killed.
Netanyahu calls women and children collateral damage. But given that Netanyahu is responsible for the deaths of around 10,000 civilians overall (and growing), his deadly assault is a disingenuous ploy without a realistic strategy for dismantling Hamas. It is a slaughter in search of a strategy.
Israel dropped leaflets warning Gazans in the north to move to the south as a “safe zone.” Then Israel started bombing parts of the south, now declaring that the area isn’t necessarily safe but just “safer” than the north.
Worthy of note, most of Hamas’s highest leaders are in other countries, including Qatar which is vital to Israel as a negotiator between Israel, Hamas and the US. How can Israel even theoretically eliminate Hamas when its top officials are currently out of reach? Of course, there is also the Iranian support of Hamas (and Hezbollah). Is Netanyahu going to go to war with Iran which has missiles that can reach all of Israel?
After all, it took at least six years to track down and assassinate just a few PLO terrorists who were responsible for planning the kidnapping and eventual deaths of 11 Israeli wrestling team members at the 1972 Munich Olympics. (Mossad agents killed an innocent Moroccan waiter in Norway during “Operation Wrath of God,” who they incorrectly thought enabled the massacre)
In reality, the killing of Gaza civilians is the point of the invasion. Netanyahu, eager to stay in office to avoid corruption charges, must know that he is creating a new generation of Hamas recruits while being unable to completely root out the guerrillas. He knows that his performative genocide in the name of eradicating Hamas will forestall accounting for the security and military lapses that allowed Hamas to pull off the October 7 massacre. It is “Bibi’s” shock and awe moment.
More….